My Snuggle Buddy

The reason why I sometimes need a new glass of water.

Recovery

Card made by Stephanie

“Just another minute, they’re going to get you a shot.”  Huh? I thought as the nurse prepped the needle and the anesthesiologist held my hand like we were on an awkward date.

    I showed up to the hospital at 6:30am and was extremely dehydrated from lack of liquids combined with the magnesium citrate that I had to take for the bowel prep.  The nurse made three attempts on both of my arms with no success at starting my IV.  The anesthesiologist founda vein near my wrist but thought that it may still be difficult so she gave me a numbing shot before she finally was able to successfully put the IV into place.  At about 8:50am I said farewell to everyone, put on my little hat and they began to wheel me to the OR.  They never told me that they already gave me some sleepy medicine before carting me off and the last thing I remember was seeing the girl who was wheeling me press the button to open a set of doors and then I knocked out.

As I began to wake up it felt like I was trying to climb up from the bottom of a well filled with water. It took me a bit to remember where I was and why I felt the way I did.  People were making a fuss around me and I remember a few times telling someone that I felt like I was gasping for air.  I guess when they thought I was conscious enough they wheeled me back to the prepping/waiting area and had me move to a lounge type chair.  It did not go well.  I was extremely dizzy and everything felt like it was spinning and I began to dry heave violently.  They asked if I wanted my husband to come back and I replied no because I didn’t want anyone to see me yet.  I felt horrible and the nurse explained that I had developed a high fever and my largest incision had been leaking badly.  When I was settled a little more I was able to lay back and close my eyes and that helped the spinning but if I dared to open my eyes the world fiercely lurched and lunged.

The nursed continued to make a fuss over me and at about 1pm I told them they could bring my husband back.  The doctor had another surgery right after mine and then she had to leave for a conference so she wasn’t going to be able to talk to me post-surgery.  She did talk to my husband but I think that doctors need to have a sheet called “what I told your husband” because by the time he was conveying the information to me he couldn’t remember exactly what the doctor said.  He knew that she said my endometriosis was one of the worst cases she had ever seen and that it was a good thing I had surgery when I did.  My left ovary was tangled in my intestine so they removed my left ovary but didn’t have to resection my intestine. My husband thinks that she mentioned removing my right fallopian tube. There were a lot of adhesions tangled in my kidneys and the rest of my organs were cemented together and twisted and tangled so they fixed that.  I have my follow up appointment on September 19^th so I’ll be able to find out all of the information and see pictures.

They nurses, who were patient and sweet ended up bringing in a machine filled with a medication that dispensed in timed intervals.  It ended up making the spinning/nausea stop and then I couldn’t get out of the hospital fast enough.  I had to eat some crackers and drink some ginger ale to prove that I could keep them down and I also had to urinate prior to leaving.  I left the hospital at about 4:45pm with just a slight fever and was overjoyed to relocate myself to the sofa where I’ve remained ever since.  After the first two days I switched to mainly taking Motrin with maybe one dose of heavier pain meds per day.  As long as I don’t move around too much it isn’t too bad though I’m still very tired and continue to nap frequently.  Since I’m sleeping a lot I’m not bored and I probably won’t have to stay out of work for as long as I thought so at this point I’m just trying to enjoy doing nothing for a bit.

Box of Meds

Since I made her get a bath prior to the surgery Lambie insisted on having her picture on my blog.  She is helping me log onto Webkinz to play some games.

Cause we're the six best friends that anyone could have and we'll never ever ever ever ever leave each other!

Liquid Luck

I have the very best friends ever!  Over the weekend they threw me a get better soon potions party complete with a life size Snape and potions which were beakers filled with water and glow necklaces to make them glow different colors. The menu included Black Lake zucchini boats, gillyweed salad and Felix Felicis to drink. 

Of course Stephanie made cupcakes (something she excels at).  They were chocolate with salted caramel centers and chocolate ganache icing. 

Party Favors from Honeydukes

It was beyond awesome, oh and I also got presents!  They are the best.

I got my call today that I need to be at the hospital at 6:00am and my surgery should be at 8:00am.  My infertility doctor called tonight to make sure I was all ready and to let me know that he had a few early morning procedures so he wouldn’t be able to show up until I was already under.  He told me he really trusted the doctors doing my surgery and is hopeful that they will fix my issues. He is such a great doctor that goes above and beyond.  I’m so happy I switched infertility centers.  I met with the surgeon Monday and she was very reassuring about everything so I don’t feel nervous at all, I am all ready.  I cleaned the house, did a lot of laundry and even gave Lambie and the kitty a bath so they can smell good while I snuggle with them.

Technical Difficulties

 So things have been a bit crazy.  Work has been crazy because we are going to be audited and my primary job is to prep for audits so I've been busy and exhausted during the week.  The left mouse button on my laptop stopped working so it had to be "sent out."  I wanted to ask Derrick (the name I gave him) from the Geek Squad when do they not have to send laptops out because every time I have taken my laptop there it gets sent out.  I was polite however and knew that my grumpy mood was due to me being tired the night I walked up to the Geek Squad counter at Best Buy.  I am currently laptopless and as my laptop and I now share a special bond I feel a little lost without it.  Our Internet has also decided to not work.  We might have it for a few hours and then not have it for two days.  That has been frustrating too makes blog posting rather hard.  I had two nice posts (one about my garden and one about a trip to NY) that I wanted to put up but the Internet hasn't worked long enough and now the pictures for the post are on my broken being fixed laptop.  Okay I'm done whining now.

So this time next week I will be in the midst of my night before surgery bowel prep (fun).  I keep thinking that any day they will call to tell me that they have to reschedule, but so far so good.  I've already done several of the pre-surgery tests and I go in on Friday to have the rest completed.  I must admit that some of the pre-surgery jitters are starting to set in.  Question like, "Will I wake up during the surgery or will I never wake up from the surgery?" creep into my mind from time to time.  It is actually a good thing that work has been so busy because I haven't had too much time to contemplate such things.  Instead I try to find things to look forward to like playing a ton of Harvest Moon during the day and watching my DVDs of Rags to Riches and hopefully finishing The Mistborn trilogy, but I'm also trying hard not to give myself a recovery to-do list and allowing myself to sleep and chill out as much as possible.

In which I propose that there be a Max Brenner's at the Hospital

Yummy hot chocolate from Max Brenner's that I really wouldn't be able to enjoy post surgery but it's nice to have a dream.

I finally got my call today regarding when my surgery will be.  As someone who thrives on schedules and plans I was anxiously (though patiently) waiting for this call.  The surgery will take place on June 14^th (very happy I won’t miss the church picnic).  I’m excited because it will be at the fancy new Virtua Hospital in Voorhees and since there is a possibility that I may have to stay for a few days post surgery it would be nice to have a natural light filled private room (or so the website promises)

Fancy Hospital Room

I pass by the behemoth of a building at least once a week and I’ve been curious as to what the insides looked like; it’s kind of like Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory but not quite as fun or cool because after all it is a hospital. Maybe they should send you home with a bag of candy or even better maybe they should put a Max Brenner’s in the hospital. That would make the experience even better! Hopefully my curiosity will sustain and offer a smidgen of distraction from the reality of having to have people jab around at my innards and take out the rotten bits and pieces.

Big Fancy Hospital

    

Chocolate Factory.  Okay maybe they aren't really alike

I’ve had to juggle (jugglers at the hospital would be fun too, but not clowns. NEVER clowns) scheduling various appointments.  I need an ultrasound one week prior to the surgery, a dexascan a week before the ultrasound because I may not be able to lie that still after the surgery and the dexascan needs to be completed before my next rheumatology appointment which is two weeks after my surgery.  I already scheduled my post ultrasound/ pre-let’s talk about the surgery appointment with the surgeon.  I’ll also have to schedule all the pre-surgery paper work and have labs done at the hospital.  Whew, that’s a lot but so far it is going smoothly.  I like having things that I have to do while I’m waiting because I can focus more on my to- do list and I ruminate less on the scary taking a nap while people poke holes in my belly button part. 

Juggling Dr. Mario- Yes
Clown Doctor-NO

  

Cuts like a Knife

 

I met with the endometriosis doctor/surgeon today.  I’m not sure why but I still find it surprising when a doctor is my age.  Somehow I always think doctors should be older…than me at least.  My husband told me to just wait until the doctors are younger than me.  The doctor was a rather serious let’s get down to business sort of lady. A sugar coater she was not. I respected that quality.  She said she liked challenging cases, and as I have a challenging case she thought she could fix me up.  Of course since my case is so severe in the long run I’ll still most likely need a full hysterectomy at some point.  This upcoming surgery will hopefully delay that by three years and help to preserve my bones. 

    The plan is to be conservative…but not too conservative which is what they did during my last surgery. At that time they were too worried about damaging my reproductive organs and thought the best treatment was to get me pregnant. There still could be a chance they may just do a full hysterectomy, but the hope is that they can save at least one of my ovaries, most likely the one on the right.  There is a good chance that they will have to complete some sort of bowel resection since most of my issues are related to my intestine.  That will mean a much longer recovery period including a stay in the hospital.  It also means a respite from one of my favorite activities…eating. 

I’m waiting now to see when the surgery will be.  June seemed to be the best month because I’ll still be on the Lupron at that point.  It makes sense but if I could, I wish it could be next week because now I have several months to think about the surgery and to do less than helpful internet searches on everything that has to do with having a bowel resection.  The plus side to waiting until June is that I have plenty of time and a great excuse to eat it up at all of my favorite places before I am placed on a restricted bland diet.

The Lady with the Owl

godess Athena

This afternoon I met with my reproductive endocrinologist.  I had my last planned shot of Lupron last week.  I’ve done very well on the Lupron Depot and have had minimal side effects from it.  I imagine that this is what normal people feel like.  It was decided that due to the lack of side effects it would be safe for me to continue for an additional three months giving me a total of six months of freedom from all of my horrid digestive issues.  That sounded great to me.

The doctor also told me that he met a doctor who works for a practice that has had success performing a very specific kind of surgery for people with endometriosis.  He said he thought of me and shared my case with this doctor.  She said she would be more than happy to see me and thought that they might be able to help me through this surgery.  When he finally told me the name of the practice I laughed.  It was Athena Women’s Center, where I had gone when I was diagnosed and treated for interstitial cystitis.  It certainly takes away the new doctor anxiety that I have developed over the years because although it has been quite a few years since I’ve been there I remember everyone being knowledgeable, friendly and kind. The head doctor always looked as though he should have been coaching an NFL team instead of fixing lady issues, but he was so warm and nice to all of his patients.  I plan on calling tomorrow to make an appointment and it looks like I may have a surgery sometime within the next four months before all the Lupron wears off.

So for now we are taking a little detour away from baby territory and are focusing only on me and my endometriosis.